How long is everyone taking off work?

Just interested I am only 7 weeks but alreday looking at maternity pay etc. Just wondered how long everyone will be taking off work when their baby is born. I'd love to take a long time off but just don't know how i can afford to I am main earner in the house and just SMP of ??117 a week wouldn't cover much over a month. Anyone else got any opionons?

I know it is a nightmare, I am going to take 9 months off, I would love to take year but we couldnt afford it.

It has made me really bitter towards people on benefits (sorry for any offence caused, this is aimed at long termers not the newly made redundant) ??117.50, a ??500 sure start grant, ??190 healthy living grant and often thier rent/council tax etc paid (yes I know I get the ??190). So I am going to work a 48 hour week for my 9 month pregnancy to pay extravagant tax to fund the unemployed then potentially have to leave my child at 12 weeks to return to work to pay for thier further benefits.

Please dont get me wrong, I really appreciate we are in a credit crunch and people are being made redundant and that is EXACTLY what the benefit system is for. Not for people to think 'ummm I am better off as I make more on benefits' - its the abusers of the system that annoy me, not people who genuinely need the benefit system whilst looking for a job.

Plus our ??117.50 is NI'd so take home is even less and if you contribute to a pension even less, yey

If I had my mortgage and council tax paid, ??117.50 a week would be lovely!

(just realised this thread may cause offence and sorry if it does as I hate to cause debate on BE as it is such a source of support for us, I am just having a rant as I started work today at 5am got home at 6pm, I have cronic fatigue and just saving saving saving so we dont lose our house, this is why I am a little grumpy today)

hi i'm also the main wage earner, and as i'm a nurse doesn't actually mean i earn that much, i've been saving like mad for the last few months and can just about afford to take nine months of.Akaladyk, i was saying to my mum the other day by the time i've paid childcare to go back to work i would be better of on benefits, looks like i'll be paying ??500 a month to put pip in nursery for 12 days a month, and i've been on the tax credits website and me and dh basically don't qualify for very much of anything because we earn to much. Problem is half my wage will be going on childcare which means we will struggle to pay the mortgage and all the other bills from whats left of mine and dh's wage. dooesn't seem fare somehowxxx33+4

akaLadyK - I know exactly what you mean, dont feel you need to apologise for having an opinion! I'm hoping to have 12 months off and then go back to work at reduced hours but it depends on our circumstances after 9 months whether we'll be able to afford for me to take the extra 3 months unpaid. I will only be getting the ??117.50 SMP too, still getting taxed and NI taken off it though!

I have a couple of friends with big mortgages that have only taken 6 months off and then had to go back full time straight way which they didn't want to do but had no choice unless they sold there houses which in this current climate wasn't going to happen very easily, nor did they really want to!

I also have a friend who lives on benefits in a council house and her husband is on the sick....she is on her 3rd baby and not worked since being 12 weeks pregnant with her first! It does make me very angry sometimes as it doesn't seem fair that we have to go without and save up for things like a pram and cot whereas she gets given a ??500 grant to get hers and they always go on holiday are out for meals, kids have all the lastest toys....I dont know how they do it!!

I agree with you all and yeah it might cause offence to some people but like you i work damn hard for my money and feel crap that i won't be able to take a long time off work because of mortgaes, bills etc when others get everything paid for and get a sure start grant what do i get for working? SFA. I do not mean people who are looking for work and have been made redundant ik mean those who don't want to work and i like others a paying so they can stay at home with their little ones while i have to pay from my wage for child care and will struggle like mad to stay off work with my little one. Hummm Wrong.

Hello!I am takng 9 months off (10 weeks of which are before my due date - thanks to SPD!) Like several others, I would love to take the full year - but unless something radical happens, we just can't afford it! Although I am very lucky, because my work hours are very flexible (I should be able to arrange shifts arround DH work) - and I can go back on a part-time basis, so I am very lucky!

I've told work I'm taking 6 months but hopefully will be able to afford 9 months. We can take a 6 month mortgage break with our mortgage because we havent missed a payment for over a year so thats gonna be a big big help! You ladies should look into it...xxx

I agree with many of you and akalady... I work my ass off every week (well ok I don't really but you know what I mean!) and some of the long-term-ers on benefits STILL get more money than me.

We have planned for me to take 9-months off work, but with a view to reviewing it as I might have to return after 6-7months off.

We're cutting costs as much as we can and also have the option of a 3-month mortgage break around month 5 of my maternity leave when it will just come in handy. Not ideal but it's there as a back-up...

I 'm planning on having 6 months off (starting maternity leave really late due to colleagues summer holidays) and starting it with some holiday so I get full pay to start with.

My company has never had this before but I don't think I'm getting anything special, just 6 weeks at 90% then SMP (let's pay the people who are continuing the human race an insulting amount of money!)

I'm so worried, I don't know how we are going to be able to cope. H2B is going to have to relent and put me in charge of his finances because he just can't not spend it! We bth at the moment put ??700 per month into a bills account which covers the bills and leaves about ??150 extra in there. On top of this there are our own outgoings e.g. credit cards and mobiles. When I'm not at work I just will not be able to pay any of this. I hae asked if anyone does payment holidays. I am waiting to hear back from our mortgage company but so far have had no's from everyone!

I want to take as much time off as possible - but realistically think we'll only be about to afford 7 months (6 months mat leave and then another four weeks of holiday). I get sucky mat benefits here (6wks at full pay and then just statutory). My big worry now is that they won't let me come back part time. A year ago it probably wouldn't be a problem - but there are wispers of redundancies now ... I don't think I could work full time and leave my baby at home but I'm really lucky and get a really good wage for where I work, and I wouldn't be able to get anything like it if I went elsewhere. So DH says I'd have to stay. I just hope they are flexible !!!!

Looking at your posts girls I think im very lucky, my father dying recently means that i no longer have to worry about my mortgage so I can spend the whole year off with our baby. I wish that I could still have my Dad though as we would have found a way to cope, you always do if you make a few sacrifices here and there. I qualified as a lawyer last year so I do want to go back to work full time eventually but I am not sure whether to wait a while as full time childcare is 2/3 of my current wages so I really cant see the benefit of doing it straight away and with my son I worked so hard when he was young I missed so much and dropped him at the childminders in his buggy when it was dark and collected him when it was dark. I dont want to do that again.I agree that people who choose to have kids on benefits and never work again is wrong, even though when I had my son I was on benefits but I was young and was at college and felt bad at the time so as soon as I could I got a job and worked my way up, with the help of tax credits. I think ive now paid my debt to society in tax since then. It helped me when i needed it but it makes me sick that some people never want to change their circumstances and take it for granted. That is why the country is in it current situation as they are not tough on the freeloaders.I am starting my holiday on 12th June then maternity on 25th June. I have to take all of my yearly allowance this year or I will lose it.

I agree with many of you and akalady... I work my ass off every week (well ok I don't really but you know what I mean!) and some of the long-term-ers on benefits STILL get more money than me.

We have planned for me to take 9-months off work, but with a view to reviewing it as I might have to return after 6-7months off.

We're cutting costs as much as we can and also have the option of a 3-month mortgage break around month 5 of my maternity leave when it will just come in handy. Not ideal but it's there as a back-up...

Who is your mortgage with Joo? Were with RBS and they wont do a mortgage break for us Dont know whether its just the type of mortage were on (fixed rate) or whether they just dont offer the option at all! The fixed rate is up in April though so we could move I supppose.xxx

hi beth24, me and dh asked about a mortgage break, were with halifax who dh works for but we were refused as our house is now worth less then we paid for it, they did say most people who bought in the last couple of years are in the same position, unless they had a huge depositxxx

I am planning on 9 months with a view to taking a year - we are in a lucky position at the moment as were on a tracker mortgage and what we spend were now saving and this should cover the 3 to 6 months where I won't get much money.. Again I am lucky that I get 6 months pay so this will help us out... I have worked for the company 6 years and we don't get overtime so I feel that I am getting all that back with having the time off..

think most of us are in the same boat and yes i understand some people need some help and benefits but some people just infuriate me as they are better off on benefits,altho is this not the governments fault as much as theres for making it easy!what really is annoying is cancer patients having to pay for prescriptions and the junkies getting it for free!aaaahhhhh.x

Im taking between 6 and 9 months off work as I really cant afford any more and then will only be going back part time hopefully so I can spend as much time with the baby as possible. Im saving each month at the mo so hopefully should have about ??1K by the time the baby is 4 weeks old so that should help us out with bills and shopping etc which Im off

Hi Beth, we have just remortgaged with the Coventry (building society I think) on a 2yr fixed rate. We have to have been with them for 6 months, paying it with no problems etc. so that should take us to August ish I think, near enough the time when my maternity pay goes down...